Tethered together.

[ASG2: A Flash of Azure (Joule)]

"Are you okay?" Joule was forced to ask via telepathy as Misaki breathed heavily

The level 5 nodded before responding out loud "I'm honestly surprised that you're doing so well. Do you exercise?"

"Not really?" Joule shrugged and sent, still singing out loud "I do have to move around a lot, the walk to school each day isn't long but the Tokiwadai dorms are much closer to the main campus right?"

"Yeah, that must be it." Misaki lied with a smile as they approached the building.

Misaki took a look at what was ahead of them and nodded. There was a guard patrolling in front of the door.

"How many do you think you could hold onto for me?"

"Honestly? I have no idea." Joule admitted.

Misaki stepped towards the door, as the guard turned to look at them she pulled a remote and gave him a zap from their combined power.

Joule felt a "mental weight" shift as Misaki passed her control over the man.

"He can't see us and won't report us." She said quietly "But we should still move quickly."

Nodding, Joule followed her into the lobby through the automatic door.

As they walked, Joule reflected on the weight of a mind. Misaki's ability worked slightly differently than her own so it felt different to hold one of her tethers. From an outside perspective, what Joule was doing right now was amazing. She was replicating Misaki's ability with her own. In truth though it wasn't all that special. Her brain (rather, the small part of it that she'd leant to Misaki) was simply acting as an extention to Misaki's brain.

One person normally wouldn't give much of a boost to an ability that wasn't their own but it seemed this was a special case. Joule could accept more strain than a normal person thanks to Lumen's support and Misaki seemed to be quite skilled at controlling the bit of brain she'd been lent. Joule had to wonder if she'd had to do this to a slave before?

"Not in the way you're thinking." Joule froze as Misaki spoke quietly.

Shaking her head as she sung more softly now they were inside, Joule asked "Was I projecting that?"

Misaki shrugged "Right now, it doesn't really matter. Your mind is open to me in every way that matters."

Fear gripped Joule but she didn't stop singing. Misaki gave her a smile, one that actually seemed... noble in a way.

"Don't worry. I won't betray the trust you've placed in me."

Joule was sure that she meant a "unless outside situations leave me no other options." to be tacked on the end but she let the level 5 be polite and they moved on.

As they did, they encountered more guards. It normally went something like this,

A guard captain would speak, asking why Joule was singing. Misaki would take control of them and implant orders. She would then juggle her links that Joule was holding onto to ensure she could cause maximum chaos with the few she would control directly.

She had each group doing something. Sealing exits, searching for Kihara, subduing the other guards and protecting the two of them.

With each group they encountered, Misaki would turn more of their defenses against them.

Joule had a headache. Now why would that be?

Honestly, there were probably a lot of reasons.

Partially it was that she was holding twice as many spare links as Misaki herself. Her brain was probably overstressed. Misaki had found a work around for that though.

Joule would pull each brainwashed guard into the song's effect and make them hold the link of some other guard. They couldn't do anything with it but it made their small group something like a look-up list of brains that the two of them could control. None of them were espers so one link was all they could hold and it tended to give them headaches like the one that Joule had now.

Ah well, she could worry about it later.

As they walked, one of the guards got a call. When he did, he whispered something to Misaki. Joule could see what it meant before she spoke.

"Kihara had been found."

Finally.

Together they headed down to where he had been taken too after he'd been captured.

He had been in the safe room, obviously.

The guards had taken him to a storage room after tying him up then gagging and blindfolding him.

Joule and Misaki ended up facing him as he sat on a chair. One of the guards asked if they should remove the gag.

"No need." Misaki smiled "He doesn't need to be able to talk for this."

She took a few steps forward, pulling out another remote.

"I'll just look into his brain directly."

The button was pushed and information rushed through the link as Misaki watched it. Joule couldn't see it that clearly though. All she was able to pick up were small phrases.

"You want me to be your stand in-" "Buisness that I just couldn't-" "Nod and grunt in affirmation-" "If you're reading these memories-" "That you're there-" "You know where." "Exterior will be safe without-" "Misaki Shokuhou?"

Back in reality, Misaki looked sick and angry. She stepped forward and ripped a false face off of "Gensei Kihara."

It was a fake. A stand-in.

"Joule!"

Misaki was already walking away.

"We don't have long, come on!"

Joule ran after her quickly.

End of chapter.

We've been on the Daihasei festival for something like half a year at this point. Good to know it's ending soon.

Right? Right?

No. Probably not.

Next chapter will be about what Uiharu and Saten were up to at Clone Dolly.